The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a program provided with a function to boot control of the program while booting a BIOS (Basic Input/Output System).
In an information processing apparatus (computer system) such as a personal computer, assigning of a boot drive is determined by setting the BIOS (BIOS setup menu) in a way that drives are booted from the drive to which higher priority is assigned. Usually, an external memory media (external devices) is assigned to be a highest priority, thus with the external memory media being connected, by turning on the power, the external memory media starts booting. Also, if the power is turned on without the external devices being connected, an internal device assigned to be next priority such as a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) is booted and a program stored in the internal device is booted so that the apparatus can be used in normal operation (for example, refer to Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-215399). Further, in the internal device, in many cases user data is stored (in the information processing apparatus such as a copying machine and a multifunction peripheral, scanned data and so on) beside the program.
In the above information processing apparatus, if the internal program cannot be booted due to a defect of a file system of the internal program or the HDD device itself, the apparatus cannot be booted. To recover the defect, the HDD device has to be replaced however the user data may not be read out any more.
Also, a countermeasure to attempt recovering by boosting an external program in an external recording medium has been carried out when the internal program cannot be booted. However, when a user wish to use the apparatus in the normal operation after booting by the external recording medium, if the power is turned on without detaching the external recording medium, the apparatus cannot be used in the normal operation because the external recording medium boots the apparatus. As above, it is not preferable that booting starts from the external recording medium by detecting the external recording medium left to be attached to the apparatus and as a result the apparatus cannot be used in normal operation contrarily to an intention of the user.
Therefore, it is required to provide an information processing apparatus and a program which enable booting by the external recording medium only when the internal program is in an unbootable state, and enable recovery and diagnosis of defects by the external program stored in the external recording medium.